D.A.F.

They invented EBM (Electronic Body Music), and then, bored by their invention, left it behind to produce embarrassingly vapid Disco. Their early albums revolutionized the sound of dance music by introducing authoritarian vocals that spit out every line like a direct order amidst a crossfire of explosive beats and flying shards of Industrial noise. Upon reemerging in the late '80s, D.A.F.'s martinet demeanor had given way to an effeminate prissiness. By that time, however, they had already assumed a central place in the history of dance music as the primary inspiration for Nitzer Ebb, Front 242 and Front Line Assembly.